The Myths of Camp David

"Robert Malley and Hussein Agha have spent a lifetime immersed in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Agha has been involved for decades in negotiations and efforts to resolve the conflict, while Malley was an adviser to a number of US presidents. Both men participated in the Camp David talks in 2000 that ultimately failed to produce a Palestinian state; the Second Intifada began soon after."

"The collapse of Camp David saw the Israeli and American camps blame the Palestinians for the failure-in particular, Yasir Arafat was described as being conniving and intransigent. Agha and Malley were dismayed by the American and Israeli effort to blame the Palestinians. They sought to correct the record in a 2001 essay in The New York Review of Books-one that received much attention and a rebuttal by Ehud Barak in the same magazine."

"Malley went on to serve in the Obama administration, serving as lead negotiator of the nuclear deal with Iran. He was hired by the Biden administration to help reinstate that agreement before being suspended in June 2023 for allegedly using a personal e-mail account to hold sensitive information, an allegation he firmly denies. (His suspension coincided with a campaign by pro-Israel groups to to oust him from the role; he was viewed as being " too soft on Tehran.")"

Robert Malley and Hussein Agha spent decades engaged in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including participation in the 2000 Camp David talks that failed to produce a Palestinian state and were followed by the Second Intifada. The collapse of Camp David prompted Israeli and American accusations against Palestinians, with Yasir Arafat portrayed as conniving and intransigent. Agha and Malley contested those accusations publicly in 2001. Malley later served as Obama’s lead negotiator on the Iran nuclear deal, was hired by the Biden administration to help reinstate it, and was suspended in June 2023 over allegations he denies; the suspension coincided with pressure from pro-Israel groups. Malley is a lecturer at Yale; he and Agha examined errors that have led to Israel’s genocide in Palestine.

Read at The Nation